Geographic and trivia puzzle

ABSTRACT

A geographic and trivia puzzle system designed to teach individuals the name and location of the counties or municipalities of a given geographic region as well as providing general information about the particular county or municipality. The geographic and trivia puzzle system includes a plurality of county or municipality puzzle pieces that conform to or represent the shape of the respective counties or municipalities constituting the particular geographic region. In addition, the geographic and trivia puzzle system comprises a plurality of cards having an indicia or drawing on one side and a question related to the indicia or drawing on the other side of the card, related to facts or trivia about the particular county or municipality. The geographic and trivia puzzle system also includes a plurality of icons or figures representing people, things or places to be placed on the corresponding to the particular county or municipality to which the people, thing or place is from or located.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many people, and especially children, spend countless hours playing video games—which oftentimes, tend to cover violent subject matter—instead of engaging in other types of brain stimulating educational or leisure activities that do not entail any violence. An example of brain stimulating, or leisure activities includes identifying the counties or municipalities of a given geographic region and learning trivia or information regarding a particular county or municipality from said geographic region. As such, it would be desirable to have an educational game that would help individuals learn geography while also having fun at it.

Therefore, a need exists for an educational and recreational system or learning tool that helps individuals to learn the exact location and general trivia regarding each county or municipality of a particular geographic region.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The disclosure relates to a geographic and trivia puzzle system designed to teach or help individuals remember the name and location of the counties or municipalities of a given geographic region as well as providing general information about the particular county or municipality. In particular, the geographic and trivia puzzle system comprises a plurality of county or municipality puzzle pieces that conform to or represent the shape of the respective counties or municipalities constituting the particular geographic region. Additionally, the geographic and trivia puzzle system includes a plurality of miniature figures—representing categories of people, things or places—that are meant to be placed on top of a particular county or municipality puzzle piece based on a question related to that county or municipality, as explained below. The miniature figure or object must be placed on top of the particular county or municipality puzzle piece once the puzzle is completed and after answering the corresponding question correctly.

Moreover, the type of miniature figures to be used will be determined by chance means, such as a dice or similar device. Each face of the dice includes an icon or indicia representing the aforementioned categories of people, things or places. Lastly, the geographic and trivia puzzle system comprises a plurality of cards having an image on one side of the card corresponding to the aforementioned categories of people, things or places on the dice; and a question on the other side of the card related to facts or trivia about a county or municipality that will allow the participant to identify the particular county or municipality to which the question is related to. Thus, the question on one side of the card is related to the category on the other side of the card.

If the participant answers the question on the card correctly, he or she must place the miniature figure on the corresponding county or municipality and in return the participant receives points for answering the question correctly. Thus, the placement of the miniature figure depends on the question on the card. As such, the question on the card is functionally related to the geographic and trivia puzzle system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a top view of a geographic and trivia puzzle system with all pieces of the puzzle in place.

FIG. 2 shows a top view of the geographic and trivia puzzle system with one piece of the puzzle removed.

FIG. 3 shows first and second sides of one of the one or more cards of the geographic and trivia puzzle system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Detailed descriptions related to well-known functions or configurations will be ruled out in order not to unnecessarily obscure subject matters of the present invention.

In the Summary above, in the Description and appended Claims below, and in the accompanying drawings, reference is made to particular features of the invention. It is to be understood that the disclosure of the invention in this specification includes all possible combinations of such particular features. For example, where a particular feature is disclosed in the context of a particular aspect or embodiment of the invention, or a particular claim, that feature can also be used, to the extent possible, in combination with and/or in the context of other particular aspects and embodiments of the invention, and in the invention generally.

As shown in FIG. 1, the geographic and trivia puzzle system 1 comprises a puzzle 2 having a plurality of county or municipality puzzle pieces 3 that conform to or represent the shape of the respective counties or municipalities constituting the particular geographic region. For the example shown in FIG. 1, the geographic region is the island of Puerto Rico and each puzzle piece 3 refers to the counties or municipalities that constitute the island of Puerto Rico. It must be noted, however, that the geographic region may be any continent or island in the world. The puzzle pieces 3 are made of any durable or resilient material capable of withstanding repeated use, such as plastic, wood or any metal. The puzzle pieces 3 should be preferably placed and put together/rearranged on a firm surface. Furthermore, each puzzle piece 3 may include the name of the county or municipality on a first side of the puzzle piece. Additionally, each puzzle piece 3 may also include the name of the county or municipality according to the braille system on the second side of the puzzle piece 3 indicating the name of the county or municipality. In this manner, individuals who are visually impaired can also use the geographic and trivia puzzle system 1.

The puzzle pieces 3 are attached or connected to each other through attaching means or an attaching element 7. The attaching element or the means for attaching 7 can be in a variety of forms, such as magnets on the edge of each puzzle piece 3 or by mechanically coupling each puzzle piece 3 with the corresponding puzzle piece 3. Other means of attaching the puzzle pieces to each other may include adhesive materials or fastening means. In a preferred embodiment, the user/player must first identify the four cardinal points (i.e., north, east, south and west) on a surface before rearranging the county or municipality puzzle pieces 3 into place. The identification on the surface may or may not correspond to the actual cardinal points, but the north must always be opposite to the south and perpendicular to the east and west. This will assist the user/player to place the particular county or municipality puzzle pieces 3 in the correct geographical location. The county puzzle pieces 3 are then rearranged on the surface until the puzzle 2 that is shaped like the particular geographic region is complete; or until the selected county puzzle piece is incorrectly placed in the puzzle. The user will receive a point for each county puzzle piece 3 is correctly placed in the puzzle 2. If the county puzzle piece 3 is incorrectly placed, then another user is allowed to continue rearranging the county puzzle pieces 3 until the puzzle 2 is complete; or until the selected county puzzle piece 3 is incorrectly placed in the puzzle, in which case the first user is allowed to continue rearranging the county puzzle pieces 3. This process is continued until the puzzle 2 is complete. The correct placement of the puzzle pieces 3 is kept on a separate list or answer book 8.

Once the puzzle 2 is geographically arranged correctly on the surface, the user/player turns to the trivia component of the geographic and trivia puzzle system 1. This component of the geographic and trivia puzzle system 1 involves the use of one or more miniature figures 4; at least one chance element 5; and one or more cards 6, as explained below. It should be noted that the miniature figures 4; chance element 5; and cards 6 are also made of any durable or resilient material capable of withstanding repeated use and may also include the braille system to aide visually impaired individuals.

As noted above, the geographic and trivia puzzle system 1 comprises at least one chance means or chance element 5. Each face of the chance element 5 includes an icon or indicia that represents or corresponds to a category of people, things or places in a geographical region. In a preferred embodiment, each individual face of the chance element 5 depicts an image of one of the following icons or indicia that fall into one of the categories of people, things or places: a baseball cap, a head, a river, a tree, a lighthouse or a flag. The image of the baseball cap represents a sports team from one of the counties in the geographical region represented by the puzzle 2; the image of the head represents a historical figure or place from one of the counties in the geographical region; the image of the river represents a body of water, such as a lake or river, from one of the counties in the geographical region; the image of the tree represents a natural space or environment, such as a park or forest, within one of the counties from the geographical region; the image of the lighthouse represents a coastal location, such as a lighthouse, beach, bay or port from one of the counties in the geographical region; and the image of the flag represents the flag or emblem from a county or municipality in the geographical region. The face of the chance element 5 that faces upwards once it has been tossed by the user will determine the miniature FIG. 4 to be selected by the user. In other words, the miniature FIG. 4 to be selected by the user will depend on the icon or indicia that appears on the chance element 5. As such, the indicia on the chance element 5 is functionally related to the geographic and trivia puzzle system 1.

The geographic and trivia puzzle system 1 also comprises a plurality of miniature figures 4 that also fall into one of the categories of people, things or places mentioned above. The miniature figures 4 are meant to be placed on top of the particular county or municipality puzzle piece that the person, place or thing represented by the miniature FIG. 4 belongs to. As noted above, the type of miniature FIG. 4 to be chosen by the user of the geographic and trivia puzzle system 1 will be determined by the face of the at least one chance element 5, that faces upwards once it has been thrown or tossed by the user. In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, each miniature FIG. 4 has a generic shape representing the category of people, things or places. In another embodiment each miniature FIG. 4 is an accurate depiction of the category of people, things or places. For example, if the category were to relate to flags, then one of the miniature figures may look like the flag from the municipality of San Juan, Puerto Rico, another may look like the flag from the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico, etc.

In one particular example, the shapes of the miniature FIG. 4 include: a baseball cap, a head, a river, a tree, a lighthouse and a flag. In this example, the miniature figures shaped like a baseball cap represent the sports team from one of the counties in the geographical region represented by the puzzle 2; the miniature figures shaped like a head represent the historical figures or places from one of the counties from the geographical region; the miniature figures shaped like a river represent the bodies of water, such as a lake or river, from one of the counties in the geographical region; the miniature figure shaped like a tree represent the natural spaces or environments, such as a park or forest, within one of the counties from the geographical region; the miniature figures shaped like a lighthouse represent the of coastal locations, such as lighthouses, beaches, bays or ports from one of the counties from the geographical region; and the miniature figures shaped like a flag represent the flags or emblems from a county or municipality in the particular geographic region. Thus, each miniature FIG. 4 corresponds to one of the categories of people, things or places depicted in the chance element 5. During use of the geographic and trivia puzzle system 1, the miniature figures 4 may be chosen from a container, bowl, pot or similar device that permits each category of miniature figures to be stored in separate compartments.

The geographic and trivia puzzle system 1 also includes a plurality of cards 6. As shown in FIG. 3, a first side 6 a of each card depicts a historical figure or famous person born in one of the counties from the geographical region represented by the puzzle 2. The second side 6 b of the cards, on the other hand, includes a brief description of the life of the person depicted on the first side 6 a. The second side 6 b of the card, however, does not indicate the particular county or municipality in which the person depicted on the first side 6 a was born.

During use of the geographic and trivia puzzle system 1, the user must first toss the chance element 5 to determine which face of the at least one chance element faces upwards. Each face of the one chance element 5 includes indicia that represents a category of people, places, or things from the particular geographic region. If the image depicted by the face of the chance element 5 that faces upwards corresponds to the category of historical figures or persons (i.e., the image of the head) the user would then proceed to select a card from the one or more cards 6. After looking at the historical figure or person that appears on the first side 6 a card or reading the description that appears on the second side 6 b of the card, the user must identify the county or municipality in which the person that appears on the first side 6 a of the card was born. If the identification of the county or municipality is correct, the user is awarded one point and must continue selecting cards until all cards have been selected or until the identification of the county is incorrect. If the identification of the county is incorrect, then a second user is allowed to identify the correct county. It should be noted, however, that in one implementation of the geographic and trivia puzzle system 1, users switch playing turns regardless of whether they correctly identify a county or not. If none of the players know the answer to a question, the card is placed on a stack of used cards and the first user is allowed to once again continue selecting cards. It must be noted that in one implementation of the geographic and trivia puzzle system 1, users must keep selecting cards following the aforementioned process until all cards have been played; while in another implementation of the geographic and trivia puzzle system 1, users may toss the chance element 5 after every incorrect identification of a county, in which case the users will be directed by the chance element 5 to continue playing in the same category or a new one (i.e., the categories of places or things). Correct answers and their value are kept in the separate list or answer book 8.

On the other hand, if the face of the chance element 5 that faces upward corresponds to a place or thing, then the user would have to select a miniature FIG. 4 from the plurality of miniature figures that correspond to the category of the particular place or thing that appears on the face of the chance element 5; and then the user would have to place the miniature FIG. 4 on top of the county puzzle piece 3 corresponding to the county the particular place or thing belongs to. For example, if the face of the chance element 5 that faces upward depicts a baseball cap, the user would have to select one of the miniature figures 4 corresponding to the sports team of the geographical region and place it on top of the county puzzle piece 3 corresponding to the county or municipality the sports team belongs to. If the miniature FIG. 4 is correctly placed, the user receives a point and must continue selecting the remaining miniature figures until all have been selected and correctly placed; or until the miniature FIG. 4 is incorrectly placed.

If the miniature FIG. 4 is incorrectly placed, then a second user is allowed to place the miniature FIG. 4 on the correct county puzzle piece 3 and continue the process until all figures in the particular category are selected and correctly placed; or until the miniature FIG. 4 is incorrectly placed, in which case the first player is allowed to continue playing by following the aforementioned process. It should be noted, however, that in one implementation of the geographic and trivia puzzle system 1, users switch playing turns regardless of whether the miniature figures 4 are correctly placed or not. If none of the players know the correct county in which the place or thing represented by the miniature FIG. 4 belongs to, then the miniature FIG. 4 is set aside. This process continues until all miniature figures 4 in a category have been selected. Once the miniature figures 4 in the category are all selected or exhausted, then the users must toss the chance element 5 until obtaining (on the face of the chance element that faces upwards) a new category of places or things (i.e., a category that has not been played). Once the new category is obtained the users must then continue selecting the miniature figure in that category until all figures have been selected through the process explained above. Once all those figures in a category are selected, the process must be repeated until all miniature figures 4 in all categories have been selected. Correct answers and their value are kept in the separate list or answer book 8. It must be noted that while in one implementation of the geographic and trivia puzzle system 1, users must keep selecting miniature figures 4 from the same category until all miniature figures 4 have been selected; in another implementation of the geographic and trivia puzzle system 1, users may toss the chance element 5 after every incorrect placement of the miniature FIG. 4, in which case the users may be directed by the chance element 5 to continue playing in the same category or a new one.

The user with the most points after all cards 6 and miniature figures 4 have been selected wins the game. In the event of a tie, the players can either accept the draw or replay the stack of used cards/miniature figures until one of the players wins. Correct answers and their value are kept in a separate list or answer book 8. During actual play of the geographic and trivia puzzle system 1, answers may be optionally verified through the answer book 8. The answer book 8 also indicates the correct geographical location of each county or municipality and may also include additional facts or trivia about a county or municipality from the geographic region in question. The points awarded to each player is written or kept track of on a score sheet 9. The score sheet 9 can be any tangible medium of expression such as a sheet of paper, notebook or word processing device.

In another embodiment, players must exchange playing turns after answering a question, regardless of answering the question correctly. This way, other players do not have to wait for a player to get an incorrect answer to be able to play.

FIG. 2 shows the geographic and trivia puzzle system 1 with one-piece 3 a of the puzzle 2 removed and showing the location of the attaching element or means for attaching 7 in an embodiment pf the invention. Lastly, FIG. 2 further shows the identification of the cardinal points 10 on the surface in which the geographic and trivia puzzle system 1 is being used.

Although certain exemplary embodiments and methods have been described in some detail, for clarity of understanding and by way of example, it will be apparent from the foregoing disclosure to those skilled in the art that variations, modifications, changes, and adaptations of such embodiments and methods may be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the claims. Therefore, the above description should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention which is defined by the appended claims.

The invention is not limited to the precise configuration described above. While the invention has been described as having a preferred design, it is understood that many changes, modifications, variations and other uses and applications of the subject invention will, however, become apparent to those skilled in the art without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of this invention after considering this specification together with the accompanying drawings. Accordingly, all such changes, modifications, variations and other uses and applications which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention are deemed to be covered by this invention as defined in the following claims and their legal equivalents. In the claims, means plus function clauses, if any, are intended to cover the structures described herein as performing the recited function and not only structural equivalents but also equivalent structures.

All of the patents, patent applications, and publications recited herein, and in the Declaration attached hereto, if any, are hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth in their entirety herein. All, or substantially all, the components disclosed in such patents may be used in the embodiments of the present invention, as well as equivalents thereof. The details in the patents, patent applications, and publications incorporated by reference herein may be considered to be incorporable at applicant's option, into the claims during prosecution as further limitations in the claims to patently distinguish any amended claims from any applied prior art. 

What is claimed is:
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 10. A method of using a geographic and trivia puzzle system that comprises a puzzle having a shape that conforms to a particular geographic region; a plurality of county puzzle pieces wherein each piece of the plurality of county puzzle pieces has a shape corresponding to the geographical shape of one county from a plurality of counties that form part of the particular geographic region; at least one chance element having one or more faces, wherein each face of the at least one chance element includes an indicia that represents a category of people, things or places from the geographic region; one or more miniature figures, wherein each of the miniature figures fall into one of the categories of people, things or places; one or more cards having a first side and a second side, wherein the first side of each card includes an image corresponding to a historical figure born in one of the counties of the particular geographic region and the second side of the one or more cards includes a brief description of the life of the historical figure depicted on the first side of each card; and wherein at least one edge of each of the county puzzle pieces includes attaching means for securing the county puzzle pieces to each other, the method comprising the steps of: step 1: identifying one or more cardinal points on a surface, wherein the cardinal points correspond to a north, a south, an east and a west; step 2: selecting one or more county puzzle pieces from the plurality of county puzzle pieces; step 3: identifying cardinal points on a surface; step 4: rearranging the selected county puzzle pieces on the surface, taking into account the cardinal points, until the puzzle having the shape that conforms to the particular geographic region is complete or until the selected county puzzle piece is incorrectly placed in the puzzle; step 5: awarding a point to a user of the geographic and trivia puzzle system for each county puzzle piece correctly placed in the puzzle; step 6: wherein upon the selected county puzzle piece being incorrectly placed in the puzzle, allowing another user to perform steps 2 to 4; step 7: awarding a point to the other user for each county puzzle piece correctly placed in the puzzle; step 8: wherein upon the county puzzle piece selected by the other user being incorrectly placed, allowing the user to continue performing steps 2 to 4; step 9: wherein upon completion of the puzzle: tossing the at least one chance to determine which face of the at least one chance element faces upwards; wherein if the face of the chance element that faces upwards corresponds to a place or thing, selecting one miniature figure from the plurality of miniature figures that corresponds to the category of the place or thing that appears on the face of the chance element that faces upwards; placing the selected miniature figure on top of the county puzzle piece corresponding to the county the particular place or thing belongs to until all miniature figures in the particular category have been selected; wherein if the face of the chance element that faces upward corresponds to a person, selecting one card from the plurality of cards depicting historical figures or persons from the counties that constitute the particular geographical region; identifying on the puzzle the county in which the historical figure or person depicted in the selected card was born; placing the selected card on a stack of used cards once the historical figure or person on the card has been identified; awarding a point to the user for each correct identification of the historical figure or person on the card or for each correct placement of the miniature figure; keeping track of the awarded points; allowing the other user to perform the process in step 9 once the user finishes placing one of the miniature figures on top of the county puzzle piece corresponding to the county the particular place or thing belongs to or identifying on the puzzle the county in which the historical figure or person depicted in the selected card was born; and repeating the process in step 9 until all cards have been selected.
 11. The method of using a geographic and trivia puzzle system as in claim 10, further comprising the step of: verifying the answer of the question that appears on the selected card via an answer book.
 12. The method of using a geographic and trivia puzzle system as in claim 10, wherein the step of keeping track of awarded points is done via a score sheet.
 13. The method of using a geographic and trivia puzzle system as in claim 10, wherein each of the plurality of miniature figures have one of the following shapes: a baseball cap shape, a head shape, a river shape, a tree shape, a lighthouse shape and a flag shape.
 14. The method of using a geographic and trivia puzzle system as in claim 10, wherein the indicia in one face of the at least one chance element depicts an image of a baseball cap, the indicia in another face of the at least one chance element depicts an image a head, the indicia in another face of the at least one chance element depicts an image of a river, the indicia in another face of the at least one chance element depicts an image of a tree, and the indicia in another face of the at least one chance element depicts an image of a lighthouse and the indicia in another face of the at least one chance element depicts an image of a flag.
 15. The method of using a geographic and trivia puzzle system as in claim 10, wherein the image of the historical figure or person that is depicted on a first side of each card.
 16. The method of using a geographic and trivia puzzle system as in claim 15, wherein a second side of each card in the plurality of cards includes a description of the life of the historical figure or person depicted on the first side of the card.
 17. The method of using a geographic and trivia puzzle system as in claim 10, wherein the north on the surface is opposite to the south and perpendicular to the east and west.
 18. The method of using a geographic and trivia puzzle system as in claim 10, wherein each puzzle piece includes the name of the county in braille on a second side of the puzzle piece.
 19. The method of using a geographic and trivia puzzle system as in claim 10, wherein each one of the one or more miniature figures has a generic shape representing the category in which the miniature figure falls into.
 20. The method of using a geographic and trivia puzzle system as in claim 10, wherein the one or more miniature figures has a shape that is an actual representation of the category the miniature figure falls into.
 21. The method of using a geographic and trivia puzzle system as in claim 10, wherein the means for securing the county puzzle pieces to each other are magnets.
 22. The method of using a geographic and trivia puzzle system as in claim 10, wherein the at least one chance element is a dice. 